Monthly Archives: February 2011

A Libyan Appraisal

Posted on February 28, 2011 by the archivist

Continuing my new focus on Libya (perhaps because I lived there once). As best I can make out, most of the east of Libya is in the hands of rebels (pink area of map below), except for Surt, Gaddafi’s home … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 24 Comments

Smoking Boosts Brain Power

Posted on February 27, 2011 by the archivist

H/T Det Fede Skelet on Facebook for this Google translation of a Danish article, Tobacco Increases Work Capacity, exploring the benefits of smoking tobacco. It’s not a very good translation, so I’ll try to summarize it: Tobacco, according to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 124 Comments

Tripoli

Posted on February 26, 2011 by the archivist

I’ve been paying a lot of attention to events in Libya, and in its capital city, Tripoli. I have a personal interest. Some 60 years ago I lived there for about 6 months in a house overlooking the harbour. So … Continue reading →

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Bloody Cigarettes

Posted on February 25, 2011 by the archivist

DP has already posted up this video, and Leg-iron has commented on it, but I thought I’d repost it. It reminds me a little of the 10:10 “Your Choice” video, where anyone who was sceptical about global warming was blown … Continue reading →

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Banning SHS at Home

Posted on February 24, 2011 by the archivist

H/T WS. More fascism. Banning SHS in the home: TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — The last refuge is vanishing for besieged smokers — at least in Honduras. A new law that took effect Monday says family members can call in the … Continue reading →

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Spanish Protests Continue

Posted on February 23, 2011 by the archivist

In Spain, the struggle continues. It’s International Tobacco Control v. the Spanish hospitality industry. 21 Feb 2011, The raw translation: Hundreds of hoteliers of Valencia and Madrid -300 police said at the beginning of the merger, have cut several lanes … Continue reading →

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Downwave

Posted on February 21, 2011 by the archivist

A line in an article in Der Spiegel from a few months back caught my attention: In an interview with the German daily Die Welt, Dalli announced that he would take much stronger action against smoking and that the European … Continue reading →

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Evading Propaganda

Posted on February 21, 2011 by the archivist

As I’ve mentioned several times, I no longer have a TV set. I just felt, more and more, that I was being propagandised by it. Over smoking, drinking, obesity, global warming, the War on Terror, etc, etc, etc. I began … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 84 Comments

The Loneliness Triblogology

Posted on February 19, 2011 by the archivist

Freedom2Choose has an important series of blog posts on loneliness. There are three of them. The first is here, the second here, and the third here. It’s my own personal conviction that the really serious damage that smoking bans do … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 100 Comments

Drain Air

Posted on February 18, 2011 by the archivist

It’s really not that long ago that the germ theory of disease was developed. It was in 1840, when the achromatic objective was perfected, that it became possible to see and study previously invisible bacteria. It was only in about … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 45 Comments